Kathisma 18

Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

First Stasis

Psalm 119

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 In mine affliction I cried to the Lord, and he hearkened to me.
2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from unjust lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What should be given to thee, and what should be added to thee, for thy crafty tongue?
4 Sharpened weapons of the mighty, with coals of the desert.
5 Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged; I have tabernacled among the tents of Kedar.
6 My soul has long been a sojourner;
7 I was peaceable among them that hated peace; when I spoke to them, they warred against me without a cause.

Psalm 120

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 I lifted up mine eyes to the mountains, whence my help shall come.
2 My help shall come from the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth.
3 Let not thy foot be moved; and let not thy keeper slumber.
4 Behold, he that keeps Israel shall not slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord shall keep thee: the Lord is thy shelter upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night.
7 May the Lord preserve thee from all evil: the Lord shall keep thy soul.
8 The Lord shall keep thy coming in, and thy going out, from henceforth and even for ever.

Psalm 121

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
2 Our feet stood in thy courts, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built as a city whose fellowship is complete.
4 For thither the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
5 For there are set thrones for judgment, even thrones for the house of David.
6 Pray now for the peace of Jerusalem: and let there be prosperity to them that love thee.
7 Let peace, I pray, be within thine host, and prosperity in thy palaces.
8 For the sake of my brethren and my neighbours, I have indeed spoken peace concerning thee.
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have diligently sought thy good.

Psalm 122

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 Unto thee who dwellest in heaven have I lifted up mine eyes.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants are directed to the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a maid-servant to the hands of her mistress; so our eyes are directed to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.
3 Have pity upon us, O Lord, have pity upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4 Yea, our soul has been exceedingly filled with it: let the reproach be to them that are at ease, and contempt to the proud.

Psalm 123

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 If it had not been that the Lord was among us, let Israel now say;
2 if it had not been that the Lord was among us, when men rose up against us;
3 verily they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 verily the water would have drowned us, our soul would have gone under the torrent.
5 Yea, our soul would have gone under the overwhelming water.
6 Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us for a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul has been delivered as a sparrow from the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are delivered.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.

Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Second Stasis

Psalm 124

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion: he that dwells in Jerusalem shall never be moved.
2 The mountains are round about her, and so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth and even for ever.
3 For the Lord will not allow the rod of sinners to be upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous should stretch forth their hands to iniquity.
4 Do good, O Lord, to them that are good, and to them that are upright in heart.
5 But them that turn aside to crooked ways the Lord will lead away with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.

Psalm 125

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion, we became as comforted ones.
2 Then was our mouth filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation: then would they say among the Gentiles,
3 The Lord has done great things among them. The Lord has done great things for us, we became joyful.
4 Turn, O Lord, our captivity, as the streams in the south.
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 They went on and wept as they cast their seeds; but they shall surely come with exultation, bringing their sheaves with them.

Psalm 126

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 Except the Lord build the house, they that build labour in vain: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watches in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise early: ye rise up after resting, ye that eat the bread of grief; while he gives sleep to his beloved.
3 Behold, the inheritance of the Lord, children, the reward of the fruit of the womb.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man; so are the children of those who were outcasts.
5 Blessed is the man who shall satisfy his desire with them: they shall not be ashamed when they shall speak to their enemies in the gates.

Psalm 127

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 Blessed are all they that fear the Lord; who walk in his ways.
2 Thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee.
3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house: thy children as young olive-plants round about thy table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
5 May the Lord bless thee out of Sion; and mayest thou see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
6 And mayest thou see thy children's children. Peace be upon Israel.

Psalm 128

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 Many a time have they warred against me from my youth, let Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they warred against me from my youth: and yet they prevailed not against me.
3 The sinners wrought upon my back: they prolonged their iniquity.
4 The righteous Lord has cut asunder the necks of sinners.
5 Let all that hate Sion be put to shame and turned back.
6 Let them be as the grass of the house-tops, which withers before it is plucked up.
7 Wherewith the reaper fills not his hand, nor he that makes up the sheaves, his bosom.
8 Neither do they that go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.

Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Third Stasis

Psalm 129

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 Out of the depths have I cried to thee, O Lord.
2 O Lord, hearken to my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
3 If thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 For with thee is forgiveness: for thy name's sake
5 have I waited for thee, O Lord, my soul has waited for thy word.
6 My soul has hoped in the Lord; from the morning watch till night.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Psalm 130

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 O Lord, my heart is not exalted, neither have mine eyes been haughtily raised: neither have I exercised myself in great matters, nor in things too wonderful for me.
2 I shall have sinned if I have not been humble, but have exalted my soul: according to the relation of a weaned child to his mother, so wilt thou recompense my soul.
3 Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

Psalm 131

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 Lord, remember David, and all his meekness:
2 how he sware to the Lord, and vowed to the God of Jacob, saying,
3 I will not go into the tabernacle of my house; I will not go up to the couch of my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, nor rest to my temples,
5 until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephratha; we found it in the fields of the wood.
7 Let us enter into his tabernacles: let us worship at the place where his feet stood.
8 Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thine holiness.
9 Thy priests shall clothe themselves with righteousness; and thy saints shall exult.
10 For the sake of thy servant David turn not away the face of thine anointed.
11 The Lord sware in truth to David, and he will not annul it, saying, Of the fruit of thy body will I set a king upon thy throne.
12 If thy children will keep my covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon thy throne for ever.
13 For the Lord has elected Sion, he has chosen her for a habitation for himself, saying,
14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have chosen it.
15 I will surely bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 I will clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall greatly exult.
17 There will I cause to spring up a horn to David: I have prepared a lamp for mine anointed.
18 His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall my holiness flourish.

Psalm 132

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 See now! what is so good, or what so pleasant, as for brethren to dwell together?
2 It is as ointment on the head, that ran down to the beard, even the beard of Aaron; that ran down to the fringe of his clothing.
3 As the dew of Aermon, that comes down on the mountains of Sion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for ever.

Psalm 133

1 A Song of Degrees.
1 Behold now, bless ye the Lord, all the servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
2 Lift up your hands by night in the sanctuaries, and bless the Lord.
3 May the Lord, who made heaven and earth, bless thee out of Sion.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia: Glory to Thee, O God.

O Lord, our hope, glory to Thee.